A pregnant mother and her husband have drowned while vacationing in Hawaii over the weekend - meaning their 18-month-old son has become an orphan. Sophia Tsaruk, 26, and her husband Ilya, 25, had traveled from Washington to Maui for a weekend vacation when they died. The incident unfolded around 12pm on Saturday.
The couple were believed to have been snorkeling off the coast of the Ahihi-Kinau Natural Area Reserve, the Maui County Fire Department said on Monday. The horrific news emerged three months after a similar incident in Florida, during which a couple drowned in front of their six children . Local firefighters and ocean rescue teams were dispatched to the area after receiving a report of "swimmers/snorkelers in distress" at the tropical reserve, according to the fire department.
An emergency responder aboard a jet ski spotted Sophia unresponsive, pulled her from the water and brought her to the shore, where arriving firefighters began administrating CPR. While firefighters focused their efforts on the her, the jet skiier went back to the ocean to look for Ilya with whom his wife was swimming but was nowhere to be found. Ilya was soon found on the bottom of the ocean around 100 to 150 yards from shore, according to the fire department.
He was brought to shore, where emergency responders began administrating CPR on him. But the pair were pronounced dead on the beach, alongside Sophia's unborn baby. The young couple is survived by their 18-month-old son, Logan, who was st.